Wendigo Nest
by Zephyreon
Summary: When people in a tiny town in Washington State periodically go missing and their corpses found horribly mutilated beyond recognition, a single hunter decides he can't handle this on his own and calls up the best of the best in the hunter's realm-the Winchesters. What seems like a simple case soon mutates out of control and the Winchesters realize they're in way out of their league.
1. Prologue

"Milo, what are we even doing here?"

"I told you Jordan, this is our last chance to get our senior prank in before the school shuts down. Day after tomorrow, no one's going to be here but renovators." Milo said, but Jordan still didn't seem convinced. Milo rolled his eyes and trudged on, smirking when he heard Jordan hurry to catch up.

"What I don't get is why we have to do it in the dead of night." Jordan muttered, "Do you hear something?"

"Calm down Jordan, I'm sure it's just a raccoon or something." Milo said. He'd never admit it, but he was starting to feel uneasy, as if something were following them. But that was ridiculous; the woods around Milo's tiny town were combed religiously by hunters to keep it free of dangerous animals.

Milo pushed a branch aside and looked at Bishop High School, soon to be Bishop University. Milo and Jordan were in its final graduating class, and tomorrow would be the last day anyone but renovators would be there. Technically they had two days, but the latter was graduation, and Milo didn't want to mess anything up and delay it.

A growl from behind them made Milo turn around, but he didn't see anything. Maybe they should hurry up and leave. He was about to ask Jordan for the school keys, when he heard Jordan scream and a searing pain erupted in his leg. Milo fell to the ground and scrambled for the lighter he'd swiped from his brother.

He tried and tried to light it, almost screaming in frustration as he listened to something tear into Jordan and at the white-hot pain in his leg. He could have cried with relief as a flame sprung to life if it hadn't been for the fifteen foot tall _thing _bent over Jordan's bloody body. Milo could just barely make out Jordan, gut ripped open.

The thing snapped around, causing Milo to drop the lighter. The tinder-dry brush burst into flames, causing the thing to flee at inhuman speed.

Everything after that was a blur. Milo was vaguely aware of flashing lights and strong hands that pulled him out of the inferno he'd created. Just before he passed out from the pain, Milo saw the silhouette of the thing against the white walls of the school. Almost as if it were saying 'Just you wait.'


	2. Hoping for Help

**In answer to Kythira's review- I totally made the town up. Though if you squint, it might be the town where my grandparents live, just on the opposite side of the country and further in the mountains. Plus more supernatural creatures and minus several furniture outlets.**

* * *

Dean's phone rang, yanking him out of an amazing dream that was mostly pie. It beeped to say he'd missed a call, then again a minute later to say he had a voicemail.

"What the hell Dean? Why didn't you answer that?" Sam asked sleepily. Dean rolled over and mumbled incoherently.

"What if it had been important?" Sam asked as he put in the PIN-7437-which spelled out PIES. "I mean, how many people have this number?"

"Apparently that kid." Dean said as the voicemail played. Instead of Bobby or Jo like Sam was expecting or John like Dean was hoping, it was some kid they didn't know.

"Sam, Dean, hi. Look, you don't know me, but I need help, from one hunter to another. I'm out in Ember Isle, Washington, near the border. When and if you get here, find the pie shop and tell Clara you're there to see Milo. She'll give you room keys to the bed and breakfast. You can stay for as long as you want, just until I can get a break from classes." There was a crash and snarling in the background. "Oh hell, thought I killed that."

"How did he get that number?" Dean asked, "And where are you going?"

"Uh, Ember Isle, Washington. Dean, he's a hunter and he asked for our help, we can't just say no." Sam said.

"The hell we can't." Dean said, looking up to see Sam had brought out the puppy eyes. "Okay, fine, but why can't we wait until morning?"

"Dean-" Sam started.

"Fine! But you're driving."

* * *

"So what do we know about Ember Isle?" Sam asked.

"Well for one thing it's not actually an isle." Dean said, "But past that there's nothing on it. Ash can't find anything weird about the place, or any recent demonic activity in the area, and Dad hasn't said anything about it in here. Why would he ask for help if he lives in a relatively normal, un-supernatural town?"

"He might be the only hunter there, and didn't feel like talking about the problem around other people. Probably didn't feel like getting committed. It's not fun. We should know."

"Next exit." Dean said, simultaneously consulting their map and the journal. He flipped to the page with the wendigo drawing on it. Those were good days; not the getting kidnapped by the wendigo part, but still some good days.

An old newspaper clipping about a string of disappearances and the finding of horribly mutilated corpses around Bear Creek.

"Why would dad keep this?" Dean asked, more to himself than Sam. The clipping had to be 50 years old; surely by now Bear Creek's problem had been solved. But there was a note paperclipped to the page in John's handwriting reminding himself to check the place out as soon as possible.

"I don't know. He probably had a good reason, so put it back."

"You think Clara in the pie shop would let me have a pie or two?" Sam rolled his eyes.

* * *

"Milo, what's up with you? You act like you've seen a ghost." Noah said. Milo snorted.

_If only he knew,_ he thought. Milo had been investigating the rumors of ghosts in the school basement and found they were spot-on. It had taken him forever to find their anchors, and in the end he'd only gotten two of them. That still left four to deal with.

Milo could tell Noah was purposefully walking slow so he wouldn't get left behind. That night had left Milo with more than just badass scars on the back of his leg; it had left him with a pronounced limp. On the one hand, it'd gotten him out of the required gym class for freshmen. On the flip side of that coin, the physical therapy had put him out of commission for a year, making him have to start college a year late.

"Nah, I just saw two freshmen girls about to claw each other's eyes out. Those chicks are vicious." Milo said.

"I bet you saw Miranda Tate hanging around the Science Wing again." Noah teased.

"God, I still can't believe she screwed up my project that badly. Thought I'd never fix it." Milo jumped at the opportunity to divert the conversation; he really did not need Noah to find out about his other life.

"You still coming to Professor Reyes lecture?" Noah asked.

"Maybe; I don't know. Are you?" Noah knew that Milo's 'maybes' were usually always 'nos' in disguise, and not for the first time, he wondered what it was he did by himself.

"I guess, I need the extra credit. I'll be seeing you, Milo."

Milo hated how his hunting career always got in the way of his normal life, and he really hated how he knew it would one day take over like a virus and kill his career as an archaeologist, if he even got that far.

Milo headed across campus to the dorms, hoping Sam and Dean had come. He stepped over his salt line inside the door and picked up his phone from the foot of his bed. There was a new text from Zane: 'Rm 109. You owe me pie.'

He'd sent it over an hour ago. Milo grabbed his bag and headed back out the door, praying to anonymous higher powers they would know what to do.


End file.
